The present invention relates generally to medical devices, and more particularly to an electrotherapy delivery device, such as a defibrillator paddle, for use with an external defibrillator.
One frequent consequence of heart disease is the development of cardiac arrest associated with a heart arrhythmia such as ventricular fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation may be treated by delivering a pulse of electrical energy to the patient""s heart through the use of a defibrillator. Generally described, defibrillators are devices that utilize electrical components to generate and supply electrical energy to the patient""s heart in order to restore the heart to a viable rhythm.
Typically, manual external defibrillators include a pair of hand-held paddle electrodes that are used to transfer the pulse of electrical energy to the body of a patient. Present paddles known in the art, such as the paddles disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,109 issued to Daynes et al., are usually mountable on the defibrillator, side by side, and comprise a rectangular base with a handle centrally aligned and parallel with the major axis of the base. By aligning the handle in this manner, smaller dimensioned defibrillator paddles may be fabricated, which can be mounted to the defibrillator. Accordingly, defibrillators may be designed and fabricated in smaller sizes while still being capable of stowing both paddles thereon. Other paddle electrode designs have been proposed for providing smaller paddle electrodes such as paddles having one end of the handle not connected to the base to form a cantilevered handle.
However, configuring the handles on the defibrillator paddles in these manners has created several deficiencies in the paddles. The cantilevered handle is not as mechanically robust as a handle that is connected at both ends. This can decrease the useful life of the paddle. With respect to the longitudinal aligned handle, since the base of the paddles are rectangular in shape, the handles of the paddles are aligned parallel to each other when the paddles are stowed either side by side or in-line with one another on the defibrillator. Hence, the defibrillator operator must xe2x80x9ccockxe2x80x9d their wrists in an awkward position in order to access the handles from the defibrillator when a patient is in need of defibrillation. Continuous xe2x80x9ccockingxe2x80x9d of the operators wrists during operation may be detrimental to the operator, and may reduce the effectiveness of the operator to treat the patient by increasing the time it takes to access the defibrillator paddles.
Therefore, the need exists for smaller defibrillator paddles that are stowable on the defibrillator which are comfortable to grasp when the need arises to resuscitate a patient.
In accordance with the present invention, a pair of electrotherapy delivery devices such as a defibrillator paddles are presented which overcome the deficiencies in the prior art. Each electrotherapy delivery device comprises a base member of substantially rectangular shape having a bottom surface. An electrode is coupled to the bottom surface of the base member which is operable for delivering an electrical charge supplied to the electrode to a patient. The device also includes an upper member that defines a handle portion, where the upper member is selectively coupled to the base member such that the handle portion is disposed across diagonally opposed corners of the base members. The device further includes at least one switch mechanism that is disposed within the upper member.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an energy selection processing circuit is provided which comprises a digital controller for receiving a selected energy level output from energy selector switches and transmitting a digital signal corresponding to the selected energy level output. The processing circuit also includes a multiplexer for receiving the digital signal corresponding to the selected energy level output. The multiplexer determines the selected energy level based on digital signal, and outputs a variable signal corresponding to the selected energy level to the defibrillator.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, an electrotherapy delivery device is provided which comprises an adult electrode assembly having a bottom surface. A first electrode is mounted to the bottom surface of the adult electrode assembly. The device also includes a pediatric electrode assembly defining a handle portion and a mounting portion. The pediatric electrode assembly is selectively coupled to the adult electrode assembly. A second electrode is mounted to the mounting portion. A switch is disposed within the device and is in electrical communication with the second electrode. The mounting portion is smaller than the bottom surface of the adult electrode assembly.
In accordance with still yet another aspect of the present invention, a defibrillator system is provided which comprises a defibrillator that generates a charge to be delivered to a patient. Charge delivery devices are also included for transmitting the charge generated by the defibrillator. The charge delivery devices are stowable on a top surface of the defibrillator and include a substantially rectangular base member. A handle is selectively coupled to the base member and an electrode is coupled to the base member. The handle is disposed from diagonally opposed corners of the base member.